Wings of Worthington
by Screaming Dean
Summary: In an attempt to get a cure for his ailments, Warren Worthington gets his cure and a pair of wings as well! In chapter 4, Warren sets a trap for Lupin the Third and his gang when they attempt to rob a bank.
1. Experiments

Lupin Takes on the Wings of Worthington

!SOUND EFFECTS! _"THOUGHTS"_

Chapter One

"I'm sorry, Warren, but you're still too weak and sickly to be involved in the next Street Fighter Tournament," the doctor said gravely. Doctor Southern was a handsome, middle aged man with short cropped black hair. He stood at an average height with an average physique.

The patient who lay on the medical table, Warren Worthington had scant, medium length, blond hair and stood at five feet eight inches tall weighing 150 pounds. Even though he was rather handsome, he had a pasty look about him.

"But, Dr. Southern!" Warren exclaimed with disappointment. "I'm in great shape. Koff! I've trained in several martial arts and techniques. I've even mastered leaping, acrobatics, breakfall, escape artist skills."

"Warren," the doctor interjected the man with the coke battle glasses kept on talking.

"I've also trained in American and Chinese fist fighting, Korean martial arts like Tae Kwon Do, wrestling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu."

"Warren."

"I've also learned how to combine all the styles I've learned into my own fighting style, using what works in the right situation. I've already defeated a few attackers who have attacked me on the street. I've also learned some aerial combat maneuvers along with the ability to jump higher than most people can…"

"Look, Warren. You're a lot sicker than you realize. You don't even have six months to live. You have three months tops. It's a good thing your father insisted you get a physical before participating in the Street Fighter Tournament. Despite the fact you're in phenomenal shape you have radiation sickness which has given you cancer, setting you on the pathway to death in a short time."

"All right. All right. I know I was too close to that nuclear radiation spill. But that was an accident; it wasn't my fault! I was only ten years old at the time! When that truck drove by, the back door opened and out came an open barrel of nuclear waste which fell into the river in which I was training."

"Yes. I know all about that. It's a miracle you weren't killed right away. But the nuclear waste has finally taken its toll. I suspect if you hadn't trained so hard you would have died a whole lot sooner. Now I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but you won't make it long enough to finish participating in the tournament, assuming they let you in the first place."

"I don't believe this. I went to college first at the behest of my father even graduating with a degree in law along with classes in aeronautics, business, and computer programing. It took me four years of hard core studying to do all that. Koff!"

"Can't you see it, Warren? You're getting sicker by the moment. Did it ever occur to you that all the coughing you've been doing was a sign that something was wrong with you?"

"The thought that something was wrong occurred to me but I simply played it off. I was all too concerned about my dream of being the Street Fighting champion."

"Why were you training in that river, anyway?"

"I read somewhere that a famous boxing champion trained under water, so I thought I'd try it too. All right, Doc. I'll get out of your hair." The ill young man walked out of the office in a purposeful stride, determined to find another way to get a cure. Then he thought about a friend from college named Leonard Sampson who was at the top of his graduating class in college, being an expert physicist and biologist.

As Warren exited the building, rethinking his plans, the doctor watched the man leave with a sense of sympathy. _"It's too bad Warren has to die; Candy will be heartbroken when I tell her the news."_

XXX

It was hard to find Leonard because he had secluded himself in the woods of Pennsylvania. However, due to Warren's fairly good detective skills he was able to locate the hidden doctor inside a month.

!RING! "Hello. Who is this?" Leonard answered, sounding a little perturbed at being interrupted.

"Hey, Leonard. It's me, Warren Worthington. We had classes together at Penn State. Remember me?" Warren explained over the phone.

"Oh, yes. I remember you. You were one of the few people at school who didn't regard me as a geek for being so intelligent. But I didn't think anybody would be able to find me. How did you do it?"

"It took a lot of work, but finding you wasn't all that difficult. Anyone wanting to locate you could probably do it too. You left a paper trail a mile long."

"All right. What can I do for you?"

"I remember you saying how you were going to develop a cure for radiation sickness; how is that going?"

"It's going all right. Why do you ask?"

"Well, it seems I have radiation sickness of some kind. And I was hoping..."

"What I have cooked up is barely ready for a human test subject, Warren. The cure might actually kill you. I was actually thinking of using it on myself."

"Why would you want to use it on yourself, Leonard?" Warren asked, excited about a possible cure.

"As you probably remember I'm quite frail and physically weak. You recall how many times you helped to protect me from bullies on and off campus, don't you?"

"Oh, yeah. That's right. I remember all that."

"Well this cure will make someone's body so muscular and ideal that it would put a champion bodybuilder to shame. In addition to immunity to all diseases and radiation it would make someone super humanly strong and fast almost like a superman."

"I can see why you'd want to make yourself stronger. But why didn't you just go to a good gym and take steroids or something like that?"

"What I'm doing is a whole lot better. However, if you are so sick that you're going to die soon anyway then it would be easier to test my 'cure' out on you. But I'm warning you. There's a good chance you'll die from what I'm planning."

"I got nothing to lose, Leonard. I'll do what I gotta do."

"All right. My lab is hidden out in the country in the state of Pennsylvania. Meet me there Saturday at six a.m. on the twenty-fifth of December; that's two weeks from now. We'll be less likely to be bothered on that day. And it's important you get there on time; we'll have to get started early. If this works right, we'll both have bodies that will make us the envy of men."

"All right, Leonard. I'll be there," Warren answered.

"Here's the address and directions."

Lurking outside were a few men wearing dark red, hiding in the shadows. "Did you hear that?" the leader of the group said, listening via speaker using the hidden bug he had placed inside Leonard's phone.

"Yes, I heard it. I originally thought spying on Leonard Sampson would be a waste of time, but if he can cook up something this worthwhile then all the time on this stakeout was worth it," another agent opined.

"Whether it's worth it or not, Professor Ikeue wanted us to watch this guy," the leader interjected. "We'll wait until his experiment is finished before we make our presence known. If it works we'll, nab Dr. Sampson and make him work for Professor Ikeue thus M. Bison and Shadowlaw."

In a wooden cabin not too far away another group of people were listening via bugging electronics. "Did you guys hear that? Do you know how much money we could make selling those magical steroids to the highest bidder?" Lupin the Third asked his cohorts, Daisuke Jigen, Goemon Ishikawa and Fujiko Mine.

Arsene Lupin the Third was a lanky, slender man who had more strength in his limbs that he appeared to have. His close cropped hair stood still as he wore a green dress jacket over a black button down shirt and brown pants, along with a yellow tie and brown shoes. He was a handsome guy in a goofy sort of way.

Daisuke Jigen wore black fedora with such a wide brim that his eyes were not normally visible under the shade of his hat. His beard had a goatee at the end of it while he had no mustache. He clothes were comprised of a blue button downed shirt, a white tie, black pants, sports jacket, and shoes. He was a dark and somewhat handsome kind of guy who looked like a gangster hitman.

Goemon was a handsome man with long black hair who dressed like an ancient Japanese swordsman in black striped, white pants and a white robe-like top with white sandals. In addition to that, he carried a powerful blade in a tan colored scabbard he utilized with deadly accuracy.

Fujiko Mine was a beautiful, young woman who had an inhumanly curvaceous figure. Her dark blue jumpsuit displayed a great deal of territory as the midriff of her impressive bosom threatened to come out of it. Her light brown hair was long and flowed in the wind as they listened to what was going on.

"What would we want with some chemicals? It would be a lot easier to just go and rob a bank or do some heist. Don't forget those guys working for Shadowlaw also want those steroids. Why don't we just go to Southtown and rob Geese Howard of all the money he has?" Fujiko asked, her arms folded on her impressive bosom.

"Just think about it, Fujicakes. I can just see it now. If I was to have a muscular physique, I could do anything," Lupin explained, imagining himself with a drop dead, gorgeous, sexy body that made beautiful women swoon over him.

"What are you thinking about?!" Fujiko asked, noticing Lupin drooling all over himself.

"All right! All right! We'll break in Dr. Sampson's lab right after he's finished experimenting on that Warren guy. After we've dealt with those Shadowlaw goons we'll make that mad scientist experiment on me to make me invincible!" Lupin exclaimed, puffing up his chest.

"That's not a very good plan, Lupin. Maybe we should just go to Southtown steal all of Geese Howard's money," Jigen explained, not really liking the idea of agreeing with Fujiko.

"Who says we can't do both? I'm so glad we tracked the communications of these guys."

"Hey! It was me who told you about those guys and managed to plant bugs on them! I'm the one who deserves most of the credit for all of this, Lupin!" the selfish woman stated defiantly.

"All right, Fujiko! I haven't forgotten about all your help. Let's get ready for that day. I can't wait. It may actually be like Christmas."

XXX

In a hurry to get the cure he so desired, Warren arrived there Saturday, the twenty-fifth a few minutes early.

After taking a liter of blood from his new guinea pig, analyzing and experimenting on it for a couple of hours, Leonard had Warren enter a room that was able to contain a great deal of radiation without any of it leaking out. By 8:30 a.m. Leonard was ready to begin. "All right, Warren. Are you ready?" the doctor asked as he strapped him to a table that was slanted diagonally.

Warren felt like Frankenstein as he was hooked up to a large machine that was six by ten feet wide, lit up like a Christmas tree, but it was all worth it if he could get his cure.

The huge, man sized laser gun that was over him glowed slightly and poised to shoot. The plan was for it to blast him with the radiation that Leonard needed to test on him. Hopefully it would work out.

"I'm ready. Koff!" Warren gasped out, being worse than he was two weeks ago.

"All right. I need to give you a couple more injections. Then the fun really begins," Leonard said. Once he had spent a couple minutes injecting Warren with some of his serum, Leonard made sure for a second time that he had Warren strapped in tightly. "I'm going to have to leave this room and turn on the machine. If it doesn't work out, thanks for letting me use you as a guinea pig."

"Yeah. Thanks for trying to cure me. If it doesn't work out, hey, I had nothing to lose."

As soon as Leonard was out of the room, he locked the door and got behind his lab instruments. The glass was shatterproof but allowed him to see what was going on. He paused for a moment then he pulled the lever. The laser gun lit up with silver energy, bathing Warren with a great deal of gamma radiation. It hurt a little at first, but he eventually got used to it.

An hour later the hidden agents of Shadowlaw got impatient. "How much longer is this going to take?"

"We oughtta just go in there and make that geek speed up the process," another agent piped in.

"Shut your trap. I'll decide what we're going to do." The lead agent paused, regarding his squad for a moment. "We'll give it another hour. After that we're going in."

Another hour later the lead agent spoke up again. "All right. We're going in." The agents got their guns and equipment ready and stormed the hidden lab.

"They're going in. What should we do, Boss?" Jigen asked as he listened to what was going on.

"We better move in ourselves. But we'll sneak in from the back way, so we can see what's going on before we do anything."

!BOOM! "What the… Who the F#& are you?!" Leonard exploded as his unwanted guests stormed their way into his hidden lab. They all wore red armor with black trim and a black shade visor which made seeing their eyes impossible. In addition to that, each one carried a high powered laser rifle.

"We work for a certain individual who has taken an interest in your little experiments. However, as we've been watching you for over an hour we've decided you've been taking too long. So we want you to speed things up a bit."

"I can't do that. This is a delicate experiment. It will take some time to make sure he won't get hurt."

"Wrong, Doc. We're going to speed things up right now!" Leonard regarded the squad leader who had ten men backing him up. "Professor Apocalypse, you know enough about this experiment to speed things up?"

"Yes, of course," the large, well armored man confirmed, walking over to the console. He was about to pull the lever all the way down until an idea occurred to him. _"I wonder what would happen if I were to bath this specimen in my own concoction of cosmic rays. As it is the effects can be quite unpredictable. I think I'll do just that." _After blasting Warren with a device from his own armor that passed through the protective glass unseen by anyone else, the scientist/agent pulled the lever all the way.

"Aaargh!" Warren screamed and writhed in pain as he grew in height and weight, bursting out of his clothes.

"You'll kill him at this rate! You have to stop!" Leonard screamed.

"Silence!" !WAP!

"Ungh!" Leonard moaned from having been knocked to the ground.

"Careful, you fool!" the lead agent ordered. "We might need him alive."

"I don't think we will need him. I've been watching this guy closely. I can mimic what he has done. Look. The guy's hair was almost gone but now he has a full head of silver feathered hair. His metamorphosis is quite amazing," the scientific agent explained.

"Spare me the geek speak. Maybe you can redo the experiment; maybe you can't. We'll keep this guy alive just to be sure," the lead agent ordered.

The scientist/agent looked at the lead agent for a moment and smiled wickedly. "OK by me."

While this was going on Warren writhed in pain as his body increased in size. Things occurred to the point that he had become six feet two inches tall, weighing 225 pounds of rock hard muscle. The energy that struck him had increased at least 100 fold, increasing the pain he was suffering. His shoulder blades were especially in pain as it felt as if knives were going through them. "Aaarrggh! Ungh!"

"What just happened?"

"I believe he just passed out," the scientist/agent explained.

"I can see that! How much power is left?"

"In less than a minute the power will have used itself up. Do you want me to turn it off?"

"No. Let it run its course. After that happens, go in there and see what happened. I noticed your armored suit is a little different from the rest of us. Why is that?"

"I made sure my armored suit was highly resistant to radiation. In addition to that it's self contained with an hour's supply of oxygen. I came prepared for this."

"I suspected as much. The radiation gun has exhausted itself. You know what to do."

"Yes, I do." The scientist/agent went inside the radiation sealed room, bringing along a radiation detector. "The radiation in here is benign now."

"How's the patient?" the lead agent asked.

"He's dead."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," the scientist/agent answered. "There's no pulse whatsoever." _"He's not truly dead, not yet anyway. If he lives, this will make my personal experiments all the more worthwhile."_

"You murderers! I told you I had to do the experiment slowly!" Dr. Leonard Sampson exclaimed angrily with a sense of bitterness.

One of the agents guarding him was about to hit him but the lead agent stopped him with a gesture. "There's no need to be upset, Doctor. Didn't you warn this guy that he could easily die from your experimental cure? He knew the risks. Besides, he was going to die anyway. Our employer has more resources than you could ever dream of. If you cooperate with us, you'll have plenty of guinea pigs to experiment on."

"I-I don't think I even want to do that. If your boss is as impatient as you are, it will simply be wholesale murder. I'm insulted that you would compare me to those Nazi scientists who ruthlessly experimented on my ancestors during the holocaust. I'm nothing like them. And I still think this could have been a success if you hadn't have interfered!"

!SLAP! "Be grateful I know my own strength and didn't kill or injure you just now," the lead agent said, knocking the hapless scientist to the ground once again. "We will take you back with us to Shadowlaw headquarters. When we get there our employer will decide what to do with you. But until then, don't try my patience!"

"Sir!" an agent called out from his communicator.

"What?!"

"The two outside guards haven't called back in yet. Those guys aren't slackers. It's quite possible we have unwanted guests."

"Hmm. Send some more men out there. I want them to find out exactly what happened. Make sure they're prepared for the worst."

"I'll tell you what happened."

"What the…" !POP! "Ungh!"

Goemon, Lupin and Jigen, each in their own way, immediately went into action knocking the agents down. When his gunfire bounced off of their armored suits, Jigen carefully targeted the parts of the suit that were less protected, still gunning the agents down. Goemon who was a samurai warrior used his powerful sword to cut through the armor and used the flat of his sword to knock out his opponents while Lupin simply dodged the gunfire and grabbed a large metal wrench, using it to smash in the heads of his targets.

Fujiko avoided the action all together and went straight for the downed scientist. "Don't worry, Doctor. When you do your experiments for us we'll give you as much time as you need." The frail little man looked up at the smiling Fujiko, happily gazing at her ample bosom. "My eyes are up here!"

"Oh. Sorry about that. I'm a little dazed from having been beaten up. I don't know if I even want to try the experiment on anyone unless it's me. It's simply too dangerous."

"Nonsense! Even if you don't want to do the experiment yourself, we can do it. Just give us the formula. If we can figure it out for ourselves, we can sell it for a fortune. We'll even give you a cut. You can have Lupin's share."

"I heard that, Fujiko!" Lupin screamed as he took out another agent by striking him in the jaw with the metal wrench he welded. Eventually all the agents were on the floor seemingly unconscious. "All's well that ends well."

"We should have let one of them escape so we could have followed him back to Shadowlaw where all of M. Bison's loot is located," Jigen replied.

"We'll get to rob Shadowlaw in good time. Don't worry about it. Right now I want to know more about this experiment. What do you have to say, Leonard?" Lupin walked over to the doctor and put his hand on his back in a friendly manner.

"Well, it's a dangerous proposition."

"Do you think it would work on me?" Lupin said with a huge hopeful smile on his face.

"You're in perfect health. It would be horribly irresponsible to subject you to something that could possibly kill you."

"Don't worry about me, Doc. I have no problem taking risks."

"Well, I... " !BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!

"If Shadowlaw can't have it no one can. Besides, I already have all of his notes. Au revoir." !RAT!TAT!TAT!TAT!TAT! Everyone who could dove for cover. As soon as the Shadowlaw agent/scientist had departed, some of his targets began to get up.

"We oughtta go after him. Eh, Lupin? Lupin? Lupin!" Jigen's face went white when he saw Lupin on the floor bleeding.

"Oh no! What can we do?!" Fujiko panicked

"Lupin's lost a lot of blood; he needs a blood transfusion quickly," Goemon said.

At that moment the doctor spoke up. "What's his blood type?"

"Ungh! I'm type A positive," Lupin answered with some strain.

"Warren has the same blood type. I tested his blood before I tested my experiment on him, so his blood might actually kill you..."

"Go ahead and do it. He doesn't have a whole lot of time!" Jigen interjected.

"All right." The doctor got the container which contained two liters of Warren Worthington's irradiated blood and injected it into Lupin. Then Lupin began to change, growing bigger, more muscular and better looking. He went from his usual skinny self to being five feet ten inches tall, weighing 175 pounds. He was still fairly lean with more muscular definition as he filled into his normally loose fitting clothing before waking up with all his senses fully alert.

"How do you feel, Lupin?" the doctor asked with concern.

"I feel like a millions dollars! I've never felt better in my entire life!"

"His injuries from getting shot are gone. He must have regenerated. You really look good, Lupin. I'm sorry the experiment didn't work on the other guy, but it's obvious we can make a killing on this," Fujiko said with a greedy smile on her face.

"Ungh!" the doctor moaned.

"What's up, Doc?" Lupin exclaimed as his friends gave him dirty looks.

"I got hit a couple times. I'll be all right. Just get me to a hospital. They're just flesh wounds." With that the doctor passed out.

"Lupin! I know you're in there! I'm coming in!" At that moment a swarthy Japanese man wearing a tan colored trench coat and fedora came storming in with over a dozen state troopers behind him. "I got you now, Lupin! But as he threw a pair of handcuffs at Lupin, attempting to entangle the master thief, Lupin shoved the doctor in the way so the doctor got ensnared instead.

"Hey, Pops! This guy needs help. Take him to the hospital will ya?" Lupin asked as he and his friends groped around for another exit.

"I don't know who this guy is, but your ploy won't work. I don't even care if he dies. I'm bringing you in if it's the last thing I do. Now I'm going to ... What's that ticking noise?"

Everyone paused for a moment, noticing the ticking as the words sank in. "Oh no! It's a time bomb!" Fujiko screamed. "We have to get out of here!"

"There's nothing we can do; Zenigata and the cops are covering the only exit!" Jigen exclaimed.

"That won't be a problem," Goemon called out. !SLICE!SLICE!SLICE! Using his powerful sword to cut through the steel concrete wall, he made a huge whole, giving them a way out.

"Good work, Goemon!" Lupin complimented. "It's time for us to get out of here!" To the surprise of the other members of his gang, Lupin practically moved at super human speed to their getaway car.

"What the? How the heck did you get there so fast, Lupin?! What kind of roids did that guy give you?" Jigen asked.

"There's no time to explain that now. We gotta go!" Lupin screamed as the others caught up to him, getting in the car as Lupin put the pedal to the metal. "Gotta go! Gotta go!" With his newly found strength and dexterity Lupin drove more rashly than usual, getting out of sight of their pursuers.

"Get them! After them!" the Interpol Inspector ordered.

"How about the geek and the silver haired guy?" a state trooper asked.

"Fine! Fine! Bring the geek. Never mind the silver haired guy; he's probably dead anyway. We don't have a lot of time before that bomb explodes, so we gotta get out of here!" Zenigata ordered as he and most of the state troopers left the large lab before it exploded. However, the trooper who was carrying the unconscious form of Dr. Leonard Sampson didn't get out quite fast enough.

!BOOM! "Aaaarrrgh!"

"Jake! Jake!" the commander of the state troopers screamed as one of his men was burned to a crisp. Then the trooper commander turned to Zenigata. "What was that crack about not caring if anyone dies? I hope the death of this citizen and one of my best men was worth chasing after some guy nobody has ever heard of!"

"Now see here, flat foot! Lupin the Third is the greatest thief in the world and also the most wanted. He'll steal anything that isn't tied down and even that too. I'll do whatever I have to do bring him to justice! Who do you think set that bomb to go off? It was Lupin! If you weren't such a local yokel, you'd know that!" Inspector Zenigata yelled back.

"It wasn't Lupin who set the bomb; it was the Shadowlaw agent who left here just now."

"Who are you?!" the Interpol inspector asked in an accusatory manner at the distinguished man who was bald and clean shaven, standing at five feet ten inches tall with an average build. He was sharply dressed with ten men behind him dressed in a similar fashion, looking like secret service agents.

"I'm Federal Agent Charles Xavier," the middle aged man announced, showing Zenigata and the state troopers his credentials which impressed the state troopers.

"Fine. So you're an American government agent. My law enforcement credentials encompass the whole globe. Why are you here, anyway?"

"I'm here because we've been keeping tabs on Shadowlaw for quite some time now. They are far more dangerous than Lupin and his gang. We also were rather curious about Dr. Sampson's experiments even though finding him was a little difficult. We also ..."

"Ungh!" A voice called out as a powerfully built man burst out of the debris of the explosion, wearing a pair of silver trunks, boots, wristbands, and midriff covering tunic that matched the color of his hair and wings!

"I thought he was dead! How could he have survived that explosion?! And how did he get those wings?!" the head state trooper exclaimed in shock and surprise.

"It's obvious Dr. Leonard Sampson was a lot smarter than he appeared to be," Xavier said regarding the survivor. "He doesn't have a mark on him. It's as if the explosion didn't affect him at all."

"Who is that guy anyway?!" Inspector Zenigata demanded.

"That's Warren Worthington."

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you've enjoyed reading this. If you have, give me a review for it. I also would love to hear what those who read a lot of Lupin the Third fanfiction think of this.


	2. Rogue Elements

Chapter Two

"What?! We thought you were dead!" Zenigata exclaimed. "And where did you get those wings?!"

"Good evening, Mr. Worthington. You kept us waiting just so you could make an entrance," Agent Xavier said in greeting.

"Wha-What happened?" the young man stammered. Warren Worthington had become a powerfully muscular man standing at six feet two inches tall weighing 225 pounds. In addition to that, he wore a pair of silver trunks, boots, wristbands, and midriff covering tunic that matched the color of his hair and wings.

"Agents of Shadowlaw blew up Leonard Sampson's hidden lab. They had been watching the doctor for several weeks now," Agent Xavier explained. "One of them got away with some of Dr. Sampson's notes. Things will be very bad and dangerous when those notes get into the hands of Bison's head scientists. So it's imperative our scientists examine you, so that we can figure out what you've become and find out what we can expect from Shadowlaw."

"Where's Leonard?" the stumbling man asked, looking around for him and not seeing him anywhere.

"He's dead, Warren."

"He's dead? How did it happen?!"

"It was Shadowlaw. They're an organization bent on world..."

"It was Lupin! It's his fault that bomb went off. If you silly, fat Americans would pay more attention to me I might have brought him in by now!" Zenigata broke in.

"Anyway," Xavier said, ignoring the Interpol inspector. "I'd like to take you to a hospital where we can tend to your injuries. We can debrief you on the events here later."

"Agent Xavier! There's a video tape of what has happened. This Sampson guy's video equipment was top of the line; it even survived the explosion," one of the U.S. agents said, running up to him.

"Good work. Keep the tape safe. We're going to have to go over it for any clues."

"I want that tape! It's my right as an Interpol agent," Zenigata demanded.

"I'm a law enforcement agent of the U.S., and since we're in my country, I have more pull than you. However, as soon as we've looked over this tape we'll give you a copy," Xavier answered.

"That's all well and good, but I'm going to find the guys who killed Leonard. He was a good man and didn't deserve to die the way he did," Warren said as he turned to walk away.

"Hold it, Warren. You'll still have to come with us for questioning," Agent Xavier ordered.

"Go ahead and ask me your questions, so I can leave."

"We also need to figure out exactly how powerful you are. You survived an explosion which would have killed most people. It's obvious Dr. Sampson's experiments were a success despite the interference of Shadowlaw."

"I'm healthy and cured. What else is there?"

"There's a pair of wings coming out of your back," Xavier commented as he pointed at the feathery limbs on Warren's back.

"What? Whoa?!" The young man stumbled as he tried to stay standing, the new appendages on his back taking some getting used to.

"We need to run some more tests out on you," Xavier repeated for emphasis. "Come with us and we'll sort all of this out."

"I'm coming along too. I need to see that tape! I also need more information on this Shadowlaw. Lupin will probably try to rob them!" Zenigata interjected.

"I doubt this Lupin of yours is as stupid as that. He'd get himself killed trying to rob Shadowlaw."

"You don't know Lupin. The bigger the risk the more he'll want to do it."

"If he tries to rob Shadowlaw you won't have to ever worry about him stealing from anybody else ever again. Shadowlaw is a world wide criminal organization bent on world domination. They have their hands in everything from elections to wars."

"Do you know how many criminal organizations I've seen come and go? I've seen so many I've lost count!" Zenigata stammered.

Agent Xavier rolled his eyes. "All right. You can come along. We'll talk about all this back at homebase."

XXX

Warren was in a building in Washington D.C. for over a month. After some scientists checked him out and examined him, Agent Xavier debriefed him and the state troopers while Inspector Zenigata stood there with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. Eventually Warren got to watch the tape of what happened.

"Now you know what happened, Warren. The scientists who've examined you told me you have a small degree of super human strength, agility and durability. My investigations also tell me you've graduated college, majoring in law enforcement and that you're a fairly good detective," Agent Xavier explained.

"I played with the idea of being a lawyer just in case my career as a fighter didn't take off. I also wanted to know the law just in case I had an altercation with someone, making sure I knew my rights and responsibilities. What does that have to do with anything?"

"If you want revenge on Shadowlaw and others like them it would be best if you work with us."

"You mean work for you, right?"

"Yes."

"You're gonna tell me how I should use my new found abilities to serve mankind or something like that, aren't you?"

"I would have put it in a different manner but yes."

"What you don't understand is that I've been training all my life to be a fighter even while I was weak and sickly. It's not so much that I'm super human but that since Leonard's experiment, I've been all together cured. As I've been cured all my brutal martial arts training which included fighting, agility, strength, endurance and other things have rebounded, making me seem super human. Guys like Ken Masters and Ryu Hoshi have done the same kind of training I've done. Now that I'm healthy, I'm just like them."

"You're more than that. Here, let me show you." Before Warren could react, Agent Xavier whipped out a .45 Colt Peacemaker and shot him!

Shocked as Warren was at being shot, he was even more shocked that he wasn't bleeding after the bullets had bounced off his chest. "Ouch!" he called out. "What's the big idea?!" Warren quickly took hold of the federal agent in a fit of rage, squeezing his arms.

"Take it easy, Warren. Can any of the street fighters you mentioned survive being shot at point blank range the way you did just now?" the agent said as he skillfully slipped out of his grasp.

"That's right!" Zenigata interjected. "Thanks to the blood transfusion Lupin got from your roid powered blood, Lupin probably has super human strength and super human reflexes as well. He'll be harder to catch than he was before, but I'll catch him anyway."

"That's another thing. Our experts who've seen the tape tell me Lupin is a lot stronger than he was before. While his strength and toughness are still inferior to yours, his reflexes and agility are greater, reaching super human levels," the high ranking agent explained.

"How much faster can Lupin be? He was able to avoid gunfire as it was. His ability to run, swim or leap was phenomenal! He'll be all together more effective at what he does. He'll surely realize his new abilities and cook up even more extravagant schemes. He'll have no fear of this Shadowlaw," Zenigata exclaimed, regarding Agent Xavier.

"If someone like Lupin can be so agile to the point that he's more agile than me, then I can fight in the Street Fighter Tournament. You still don't understand how when those Shadowlaw agents increased the dosage against Leonard's advice I was infused with power which would have killed most people. Despite my sickly but well trained body my ki, chi, and martial arts training allowed me not only to survive but to thrive. That's where my power comes from. Leonard's treatments just healed my sickly body," Warren said, desirous to get involved in the Street Fighter Tournament despite his obvious physical advantages.

"I still think you're too powerful to be involved in the Street Fighter Tournament, Warren. As it is, you're capable of lifting in excess of 10 tons with toughness to match and even more endurance," Agent Xavier said with a sense of grave seriousness.

"That's just my ki and chi in overdrive. Instead of my ki and chi increasing my power for a moment during an attack the way most martial artists do I'm just that powerful all the time. If I were to fight any martial artist like that it wouldn't be unfair as long I announced myself and gave my opponent a chance to prepare and build up his ki to fight me. The only way it's different is that I would fare better if someone were to surprise me the way you did just now. My toughness wouldn't protect me all that much from someone like Ken Masters who is reputed to have destroyed a small mountain with his martial arts power early in his career. He's even more powerful now! You couldn't destroy a small mountain with the gun you're carrying," Warren explained to the federal agent.

"You **are** extremely tough as I've demonstrated just now. Ken Masters and Ryu Hoshi may be able to fight someone like you given time to prepare, but you'd still have a huge advantage over them. It still might be possible and feasible for you to participate in a tournament on an undercover basis as a U.S. law enforcement agent, but you'd be fighting all sorts of international villains, some of them with different kinds of powers that are greater than what you could do. You may even be able to fight someone like Shadowlaw's leader, M. Bison himself."

"I guess I might as well. But I'm not going to be your slave or anything like that!" Warren stammered.

"Nobody's asking for that."

"This has all been interesting but I want a copy of that tape so I can go after Lupin," the Interpol agent said. "I've spent way too much time here in this city as it is."

"Of course. Here's a copy. I'm surprised you decided to stick around for so long," Agent Xavier said.

"The time here wasn't wasted since I caught up on a lot of paperwork, working in the Interpol office here. Now it's time to go after Lupin." The Interpol inspector stormed off in hurry as if he was chasing after the wind.

XXX

Six months later Warren had finished his training as a federal law enforcement officer along with learning some new fighting techniques. He wasn't thrilled about losing the opportunity to be the Street Fighter Champion but he realized he had received a powerful gift that he needed to use correctly.

Wearing a light blue tie, dress jacket, and pants along with black shoes and a white dress shirt over his silver colored midriff tunic, trunks, and wristbands, Warren made his way through the building in which the office of his boss was wearing his silver colored boots. His feathered hair was still a silver and white color as was his wings which were prehensile and wrapped around his torso under his clothes. As he walked through the building, many of the women admired the gorgeous man with a muscular physique and striking good looks.

"Here's your first assignment, Warren," Agent Xavier said to him as he handed him a manila folder. "There's rich oil tycoon named Jack Dawson. We don't know what exactly is going on but he may actually have rogue operatives in the government working for him. In addition to that we believe Lupin and his gang will try to rob Dawson himself."

"Isn't it more important that I deal with Dawson or Lupin?"

"It would be better if one of us were to capture Lupin ourselves instead of Interpol doing it. In addition to that, I really don't like Inspector Zenigata that much anyway. But finding out what Dawson is doing and who his rogue government agents are is of the utmost importance. Every other agent we've sent in has never come back. I'm hoping you'll get to the bottom of this."

"I will. But what will I do if I find the rogue agent elements? Are these guys above framing me for some crime? They might do something like that if they find out that I'm a little hard to kill."

"I'm sure you'll figure out what to do. Start on this assignment right away. And one more thing."

"Yes?"

"There may be an assassin involved named Golgo 13. We don't know why he's buzzing around but be careful. That guy is extremely dangerous. The info we have on him is in the dossier I gave you."

"All right. I'll keep all that in mind."

XXX

A few hours later, Warren showed up in New York, having taken a plane then a cab to the building owned by Jack Dawson, the oil tycoon. Warren walked towards the large building, approaching an extremely large man in a business suit backed up by two other large men. Stopping Warren with his hand thrust forward, the large man in front got in the way. "Where do you think you're going, Whitehead?"

"Whitehead? I'm Federal Agent Warren Worthington. I would like to talk to Mr. Dawson about the rogue agents in the government he allegedly has in his employ. It would be easier for us if he would just tell us who these people are so we can root them out," the lawman explained as he showed the man his credentials.

"All right, so you're legit," he answered, giving Warren back his credentials. "I didn't know the government hired comedians. Mr. Dawson doesn't have rogue agents working for him in the government."

"You know it's a felony to lie to a federal law enforcement agent, don't you?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Did you lie to me just now?"

"I gave you the information I've been given."

"All right. That means you're not lying to me, but that someone else lied to you. Who gave you your information?"

The man gave the fed a glare of scrutiny for a moment. "Either show me a warrant or get out of here!"

"What's with the hostility? I told you what I wanted, you didn't want to tell me, so what do you want me to do?"

"Why you two faced, idiot!"

"Idiot?!" Warren said, rolling his eyes at the guy.

"Get out of here!"

"All right. All right." Warren ended up leaving with more suspicions than he had had previously. However, while this was going on there were two other people watching his attempt to get at the truth.

"Did you see that?" Lupin asked his friend and cohort, Daisuke Jigen.

"Yeah, I saw that. I figured that Warren guy was dead. I wonder if he's as strong as you are."

"Oh, I doubt that. I can lift a car and throw it a block away. He is bigger than me though."

"All you can do is lift one end of a large off the ground, Lupin; you can't throw it anywhere. Now when do we get inside that building?"

"We do it in early in the morning."

"In the morning?"

"They won't suspect anything in the morning."

"All right," Jigen said as he and Lupin drove off.

XXX

"Mr. Dawson, there's a federal agent named Warren Worthington who's been snooping around and asking a lot of questions about you," a high ranking aide said to his boss, Mr. Dawson, who sat behind his desk in his large, plush office.

"Deal with him in the same way you dealt with the other federal agents who have put their noses where they didn't belong."

"Yes, Mr. Dawson."

"Just to be sure, send Snake after him. Make sure he ends Agent Worthington's life in a hideous and gruesome manner."

"Yes, Mr. Dawson," the aide answered with a smile.

XXX

Warren was lying on his bed in his hotel room relaxing and contemplating the events of the day when he felt an eerie presence. "Ssssssssssss!"

"Who's there?! Show yourself!" Warren called out abruptly. All of a sudden a seven and a half foot tall man, wearing a purple leotard with short curly hair slithered towards him at such an inhuman speed Warren barely got out of the way in time.

"Hissss! You're pretty fast, Silverman. Do you know why I'm here, G-Man?"

"I have an idea. You want to tell me?"

"I'm here to kill you in a horrible manner. Ssss! Aaaaaaaaaah!" Then he came at Warren, throwing some kind of small thin needles at him. !RIP!

"That was my favorite shirt!"

"You have a lot more to worry about than your clothes, fool!"

Upon the destruction of his shirt, Warren quick changed into his silver under clothes, his wings popping out and surprising his attacker. "Is that so? Let's see you handle this!" Warren called out as he flew into him fists first.

"You should be dead by now. What kind of steroids have you been taking? And how did you come to have those wings?"

"It's a long story. Suffice it to say I'm just the toughest guy you'll ever deal with. You want to fight? Let's fight then." The slithering guy came at his quarry again, leaping towards him quickly with even more surprising speed, grappling and strangling Warren like a 24 foot python.

"Hwaa!" Shocking the elastic giant of a man, Warren broke out of his hold, using his prehensile wings to stretch his way out. Then he maneuvered himself in such a way that he had his attacker in a choke hold.

"Ungh! You can't hold me for long," the creature hissed.

"I don't have to hold you for too long. All I need to do is this!" As Warren increased the pressure on his on would-be-assassin, his opponent slithered out of his grasp, hurt only a little bit.

"You're a strong one but no one can hold Snake."

"What's the big idea with referring to yourself in the third person?" Warren said as he struck the slithering creature with a right cross, slamming him into the wall. Warren didn't connect too well as the guy rolled with the blow.

"I'm going to have to visit you again some time," Snake said, making his way for the door.

"Why leave now? Let's finish this," Warren replied, running after the guy. The would-be assassin left his intended victim's hotel room and ran through the lobby with Warren flying after him in rapt pursuit.

"Oh, no you don't. You're not going catch me. I'll be seeing you later. And when you don't expect it, expect it." With that Snake made himself thinner than paper and slipped under the locked door of a broom closet. By the time Warren had ripped the door off of its hinges, the Snake was long gone. The pursuer took a good look at the surroundings of the small room, eventually noticing the broken vent above him.

_"There's no way he could have gone through that vent; it's so small,"_ Warren thought as he flew upwards and found he couldn't fit himself through the vent.

XXX

The next day Warren arrived at Mr. Dawson's building again dressed professionally in new clothes. "Stop right there! What the… How come you're not dead?!" the well dressed, professional security exclaimed in surprise.

"You want to tell me why I should be dead?" Warren asked, showing him and the others his credentials again.

"We know who you are, Worthington. And we don't know what you're talking about," the head of security said, interposing himself in between him and the lower ranked security personnel to whom he had been speaking.

"Is there a guy named Snake anywhere around here? He attacked a Federal law enforcement officer, me, so now there's a warrant out for his arrest. Did I tell you that I had hidden video cameras in my hotel room just in case someone came in and attacked me? Every law enforcement officer in the country is looking for this guy. So how about telling me where I can find him?"

"We don't know what you're talking about. Now unless you have a warrant, get out of here!"

"Maybe I'll come back with a warrant. Good day." After giving him a harsh glare Warren did an about face and walked off.

"I don't know how he's still alive, Boss. Snake has never failed before."

!SLAP! "Idiot! Watch what you say next time!"

XXX

As Warren kept on walking he noticed something that brought a smile to his face. "Presentinggggg the Street Fighter Tournament! Guile vs. Balrog!" There was a good part of the street which had been cordoned off so the participants could fight without anyone else getting in the way. Even though the chances of Warren being involved in the Street Fighter Championship weren't too good, he still wanted to see the fight. However, Warren's viewing of the fight was interrupted when someone walked right up to him.

"I thought you were dead. Fancy seeing you here." Warren looked down to see Fujiko Mine standing there wearing a dark blue jumpsuit which was unzipped down to her belly button so as to show a healthy expanse of feminine territory, looking as if she was going to come out of it. Despite his red faced embarrassment, it took a great deal of discipline to tear his eyes away from the exposed midriff.

"Aren't you wanted, Fujiko?" Warren asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Why would you care whether or not I was wanted?"

"I'm a federal law enforcement officer," Warren explained, showing his badge and credentials. "Is there anything you want to tell me?"

"Um. No. I'm not wanted in America," she said, walking away from him. However, Warren quickly grabbed her by the shoulder, holding her fast.

"Where are you going? Do you and Lupin have some kind of heist going on? It would really help me get promoted if I were to nab all of you while robbing some bank."

"You're hurting me. I don't know anything, honest. Sheesh. You're stronger than Lupin. That's it, isn't it? That mad scientist not only made Lupin stronger and faster, he's done the same for you too. I have to admit, you're a lot better looking than Lupin or almost any other man I've seen in a long time. How about I explain everything over dinner, handsome?" Fujiko said with a sexy wink and shake of her body which slightly came out of the unzipped jumpsuit she was wearing. This managed to distract the federal agent who couldn't take his eyes off of the gorgeous, escaping pulchritude.

"Um. Well." !SPRAY! "Koff!" Warren stumbled, stunned as Fujiko sprayed him with some kind of paralysis potion. He would have been knocked out flat if he had been a normal man but because of his above par constitution and endurance Warren was only stunned for a few seconds which was more than enough time for Fujiko to make her escape.

"Come back here!" Warren called out, chasing after the damsel through the crowd. "If you weren't wanted before you're wanted now, Fujiko!" The young woman deftly made her way through the crowd but Warren still managed to catch up to her, grabbing her shoulder again.

"Ow! You're hurting me!" she complained while they were near a dark alley with nobody watching them at the time.

"I'm doing nothing of the sort. Now tell me what's going on!" Warren was sure he had Fujiko cold until she came out of the jumpsuit she was wearing, becoming naked except for a skimpy slingshot bikini that left little to the imagination.

"Eeek! Pervert!" Fujiko screamed, covering her large, full breasts and pretending to blush and be embarrassed.

"Oops! Um. I'm sorry. I..."

"You pervert! Get away from me! Eeek!" With that Fujiko ran off. Warren stood there in shock and embarrassment for a moment until he realized that he just had been had.

XXX

"Where have you been, Fuji-cakes?" Lupin asked when Fujiko arrived in the gang's current hide out. Then he noticed her state of undress, prompting him to get hot and bothered.

"Oh, be quiet, Lupin. If you must know that guy Warren Worthington is actually alive and working as a federal agent. He tried to nab me but I escaped from him by coming out of my jumpsuit."

"What?! No way!" Lupin exclaimed in surprise.

"I remember how his blood gave Lupin his supped up strength, reflexes and durability," the samurai of the group stated. "Does this guy have super strength too?"

"Yes. In fact he's a whole lot stronger and tougher. But he's not as fast or agile as Lupin is."

"I'm sure I'm a whole lot smarter than that guy too," Lupin interjected. "What does the guy look like now?"

"Oh, he's tall, over six feet. And he weighs well over 200 pounds, looking like a bodybuilder with a well defined body. His silver/white hair and blue eyes help to complete the nice look he has. He's kind of a dummy, but that's what makes him even more attractive."

"He can't be better looking than me," Lupin said jealously as he got up and flexed his muscular body which now matched what a man on a fitness magazine would look like as opposed to a bodybuilder.

"He **is** better looking than you, Lupin. But that doesn't really matter. If he can figure out what we're doing then Zenigata can't be too far behind."

"I'm not worried about Zenigata. I'm more concerned that you might be infatuated with this Worthington guy."

"Oh, get over it, Lupin." By this time Fujiko had already put a robe on which still allowed much of her pulchritude to slip out.

"Now that that's done let's get back to the business at hand. How are we going to rob Dawson's building?" Jigen interjected.

"The safe is on the twenty-ninth floor of the fifty story building where Mr. Dawson works, but lots of hidden video cameras watch the safe and the surrounding areas," Lupin explained, showing a map of the interior of the place.

"But don't forget about that guy called Snake. Word is he's practically invincible and hard to grasp. He also throws small but invisible needles at his victims."

"I'm sure you can handle it, Jigen."

"That's not all, Lupin. There's a guy called Golgo 13 who's going to show up. I have no idea why he's here, but he's very dangerous," Fujiko explained.

"We'll have to work fast. We'll do it tomorrow morning at four a.m. It's very important we stay out of the way of all these other guys. Let them duke it out. We just want the money."

XXX


	3. Blow Up

Chapter Three

At four a.m. in the morning, Lupin and his gang skulked through the building of Jack Dawson, clinging to the shadows. "Where's the gold here, Lupin?" Fujiko asked impatiently. "We've been searching for hours."

"It's right over there. Hold your horses, Fujiko," Lupin answered.

"I sense the presence of some others here. We must be careful," Goemon stated stoically.

!POP!SLASH! "What was that noise?" Jigen asked no one in particular.

"There's a fight going on. We'll just let them duke it out while we gather the loot. Ah. Here's the safe. Let's get cracking."

While this was going on Warren Worthington was parked outside in his specialized brown van across from the entrance of the Dawson building when... !POP!BLAM!SLICE!

"What's all that noise?" Quickly getting out of his car, Warren ran towards the building.

"Hey! You still can't come in here!" the same large man from before said, barring his path.

"There's a disturbance in the building, can't you hear it?" !BOOM! At that point the hired thug ran into the building with Warren right behind him.

!RAT!TAT!TAT!TAT!TAT! "Ungh!" the hulking man in front of Warren moaned as he came crashing to the ground a bloody mess.

"This is Federal Agent, Warren Worthington! Put the gun down!"

A medium sized Japanese man wearing dark glasses and a trenchcoat turned towards him calmly with a silent, scary malevolence about him. Drawing a bead on him with his .44 M Llama Super Comanche revolver he fired. !POP!

"Aargh!" Warren screamed in shock as the hollow point, armor piercing bullet hit him right in the chest, knocking him down. However, what really hurt him out was the gas pellet that exploded in his mouth, sending him to the ground stunned.

"Ssssoo, you'rrrrre not as tough as you thought, birdman," the extremely tall, slithering man Warren had fought earlier in his hotel room said as he writhed on the floor in his death throes until he finally died. However, before Warren could get up and respond to his previous sparring partner... !BLAM! "Ungh!"

"I know my specialized gunfire wasn't enough to kill someone with your toughness, Mr. Federal Agent, at least not a couple of shots," the creepy man said, walking towards him with a gun in one hand and something else in the other that Warren just couldn't recognize.

"I know you're Golgo 13. You're under arrest. Koff!"

Then the assassin struck him. "Ouch!" he exclaimed, shaking his hurting hand. "You really are tough. Fortunately for you, you are not my target. However, I can't have you stopping me." Golgo then dropped a gas bomb right next to his victim, making him cough even more and slip into unconsciousness.

A few minutes later, Warren recovered and got up to find that Golgo 13 was gone. "What are you doing here? And where is Lupin?" he heard a loud, annoying voice call out to him.

"What are you doing here, Zenigata?"

"I'm here after Lupin."

"Did you see Golgo 13 leave here just now?"

"I saw a man leave, but who he was is irrelevant. My main goal is Lupin."

"I'm going to see what that guy did. Chasing after Golgo now would be pointless."

"Listen here, Worthington," the Interpol inspector said with a patronizing tone. "You've only been in law enforcement for a few weeks while I'm a consummate professional..."

"Who has been chasing the same guy for over ten years," Warren said, completing his sentence. "There's more than Lupin and his gang going on here. For all I know..."

!TICK!TICK!TICK!TICK!TICK!TICK!TICK! "What's that?"

"It's bomb!" He answered excitedly. "We have to find that bomb and any others. If this building explodes it will ruin the city!" Warren said excitedly.

"That's unimportant! I'm going after Lupin!"

Warren watched the inspector run off as he tried to figure out where the bomb was located. Getting on his knees, he put his ears to the ground, made a guess as to the location of the bomb, and ran off.

As he kept running towards the sound of the ticking which became louder and louder, Warren got near to where Lupin and his gang were emptying a large safe, the place they were at being in the shadows.

"Someone's coming," Goemon said as he stopped his work in order to pay more attention to his environment.

"I sense him too." In less than a second Jigen drew his trusty revolver and fired.

The Japanese gunman had a look of shock as his gunfire bounced off his target's chest.

"Ow! What do you guys think you're doing?"

"It's Warren Worthington! We were just leaving, big guy!" Lupin called out as he hefted a huge bag of money.

"Did you have something to do with the bomb that's going to go off?"

"We don't know what you're talking about," Goemon answered as he fast drew his sword, coming at Warren in a full run. Even though he managed to get some cuts his opponent's shirt and jacket, prompting his wings to come bursting out, Warren was still able to block the samurai's sword thrusts with his silver colored bracelets.

"Gasp!" the samurai exclaimed. "But how? That has never happened before. No one has defied my blade."

"You've spent too much time stealing and not enough time training," the winged warrior answered as he used his wings to "leg sweep" his opponent, knocking him off his feet. Then he grabbed the samurai by his feet with his prehensile wings and slammed him against a nearby wall.

"Whoa! You're pretty strong there, dude!" Lupin called out as reached into subspace and threw a smoke bomb at him.

"Koff! Koff! There's a bomb in this building! If I don't find it and diffuse it, the building will blow up! Koff!" Warren called out.

"Whatever, big guy. We'll just leave you to deal with it." Lupin and his gang took off as Warren groped his way through the darkening smoke.

Then he heard a feminine voice say, "just to be sure." !POOF!

"Koff! Koff!" Warren Worthington coughed upon Fujiko having thrown some of her knockout gas at him.

XXX

A few minutes later, the Interpol inspector caught up to his quarry. "Lupin!" Zenigata screamed at his departing form from the shattered glass of one of the office suites.

"Good bye, Old Man!" Lupin called out from one of the Dawson helicopters. "Your silver haired friend thinks the building's going to blow up. You might want to get out of there!"

"Inspector Zenigata!" the Warren called out, waking up from Fujiko's knockout gas and flying towards where he heard voices.

"What? I'm yelling at Lupin. I'm going to put him in hand cuffs."

"The building's going to blow!"

"You silly American. You're getting excited over nothing!"

"Suit yourself!" !BOOM! Warren kept on flying through the building like a chicken with its head cut off when he finally heard some more ticking.

"There it is, in there!" !SMASH! After he had broken through the near empty room from which the ticking had come, he walked to where there were computers and what looked like a military nerve center.

"What are you doing?" Zenigata called out from the entrance Warren had just made.

"There's another bomb right here. This place is the center point. If a bomb blows up here it will destroy the whole building. I'm going to..."

"All we have to do is get it out of where it's hidden and diffuse it," the Interpol inspector exclaimed.

"No. I have some knowledge about bombs, but I'm betting the bomb here is more sophisticated than usual; so I'm calling for help. Hello? Yes, this is Agent Warren Worthington."

"Step aside. I know what I'm doing," Zenigata demanded, bogarting his way to the computer consoles while Warren informed Agent Xavier what was going on.

"Warren. From what you've told us, we're going to have to electronically shut those bombs down from your communicator," Xavier explained.

"We can do that?"

"Yes. But we have to hurry."

"Don't worry about it, Xavier!" the Interpol inspector called from where he was groping around. "I have the situation well in hand. Lupin probably planted these bombs in order to cover his escape. I'll just..."

"No! Stop, Zenigata! Our computer analysis has told us those bombs are too sophisticated for anyone to try to diffuse by hand! Let us shut them down from here!" Xavier yelled from Warren's communicator.

"You Americans don't know that much! I know how Lupin operates. I can simply do what I have to do from here. Ah. Here it is." Zenigata grabbed a huge device and began to tinker with it.

"Zenigata, stop!" Warren yelled, running over towards him.

"Hold your horses, birdman! I'm going to... !CLICK!CLICK! "Uh, oh!"

"Nooo!"

!KABOOM!

XXX

Warren woke up the next day in a hospital bed. Looking around, he noticed that Zenigata was in the bed next to his. "Oh, good. You're awake," an attractive looking nurse with fair skin and red hair tied in a bun said to him with a nice smile.

"Hi. What happened?"

"You actually survived the explosion without getting permanently injured. All the bomb really did was send you into a world of unconsciousness along with some minor injuries. What are you made of anyway?"

"I'm practically made out of steel," the young man answered with a reassuring smile that made the nurse melt.

"Hmm. I see. Anyway, I'm going to call the doctor. After he's done diagnosing your condition, he'll call your boss and tell him how you're doing." With that, the nurse did an about face and walked off with a deliberate switch of her hips. Then she looked over her shoulder and said, "maybe when you get better you'll take me flying some time."

"Lupin! I'll get you, Lupin!" Warren heard Zenigata call out from his bed.

"He's not here, Inspector. Lupin's long gone by now." Warren turned towards him, noticing that the inspector was fast asleep. "The guy's talking in his sleep. I just don't believe how infatuated this guy is with Lupin."

Then Agent Xavier walked in the room. "So you're awake."

"Yeah. I wasn't sure whether or not I would have survived that explosion intact. Surprisingly, nothing's broken."

"It looks like your friend, Leonard Sampson, really did a good job on you."

"He sure did. Where do we go from here?" Warren asked, sitting up from his bed, spreading his wings outward.

"Well, right now, many of the law enforcement brass are furious with Zenigata for what happened with that building. Word is they're going to send him out of the country for good as soon as he recovers."

"Snort!" the Interpol agent exclaimed, waking with a start. "What was that?!"

"Greetings, Inspector. I'm happy to see you're doing so well. As soon as you're well enough, you're to leave the United States and never come back," Xavier said with a note of finality.

"Whaaat? You can't do that! You can't do that! What will happen if Lupin decides to come here to America and steal something? You don't have a whole lot here worth stealing, but Lupin's sure to come back here to try and take it anyway!"

"We'll figure out how to deal with Lupin in our own way, Inspector. We Americans have had it with your continued bungled attempts at trying to arrest Arsene Lupin and his gang. There have been too many times when disasters have happened when both you and Lupin have been involved. Jack Dawson's building exploding was the last straw."

"If Lupin finds this out, he'll come here knowing there's no one here who can stop him! Your political hacks are putting this country into danger!" Zenigata responded hotly.

"We'll manage."

XXX

A couple days later, Warren was speaking to his boss, Agent Xavier. "You want me to be the one who goes after Lupin and his gang?" Warren asked as he stood in front of his boss in his office inside a wing of the White House.

"That's right, Warren. I know you can do it without the wanton destruction that normally happens when Zenigata chases after him. The Interpol Inspector will still chase after him outside of the United States, but inside the U.S. you'll be chasing after him," Xavier explained.

"Gasp! Is Lupin going to capitalize on all my time?"

"There will be other things that will come up. You might even end up working outside of the country every now and then. But for the most part, Lupin and his gang will be your responsibility as long as they're in the United States."

"All right. I'll start reading up on everything I can on Lupin and his gang. I blame Lupin for Leonard's death, so it won't take me too long to nab him," Warren said in response, but the future would prove him to be horribly wrong.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Please let me know what you think of this. Thank you.


	4. Entrapment

Chapter Four

At 4:00 am in the morning, Warren was sitting in a lotus position; using the tai chi he had learned a long time ago while he sat inside the main vault of the First National Bank of New York where several billion worth of gold bouillon and most of the money in New York State was reported to be located. The room was cold with the smell of money in the air. Even though there wasn't a whole lot of air inside Warren was concentrating so as to use less oxygen; in addition to that, Warren's avian form needed less air to breath than the average person anyway. There wasn't much room inside as Warren wore his silver, skintight outfit with wings spread out, ready for action.

Waiting to spring the trap his boss and he had set, Warren was sure Lupin's gang was going to show up since the place fit the kind of pattern they were using at the time. Lupin had been robbing several banks much like the one Warren occupied at the moment. It wasn't hard to convince the bank president to allow him to spend the night in the main vault after several of the banks in the city had been robbed clean.

!BOOM! "What's that noise?" Warren exclaimed, waking up out of his meditation.

A few moments later, the huge door to the safe came apart all of a sudden. _"I bet that's Goemon's legendary blade!"_ Warren then waited for some of them to walk in and attacked! At super human speed, the avian warrior struck the blade wielding samurai in the jaw, knocking him out before he could use his sword against him. Then the winged warrior clapped his hands together and shoved the shockwave he had created in the direction of Lupin and his gunman, Jigen. Warren had so successfully surprised his Lupin and his gang that the three of them were unconscious before they knew what had happened

After the smoke had cleared, the federal agent turned on his communicator. "This is Warren. I got them."

"Good work, Warren. We saw it all on the video cameras. We're sending some men in," Agent Charles Xavier answered happily.

XXX

"What happened?" Lupin asked no one in particular when he and his friends found themselves inside a jail cell in a high security prison.

"You're in Federal custody, Lupin. I haven't forgotten how you got my friend, Leonard Sampson killed," Warren answered, facing him from outside the cell.

"You're that Warren Worthington guy!" Lupin exclaimed as he walked over to the bars so he could get a better look at his captor. "The silver hair really suits you. You're pretty big too. What kind of steroids have you been taking?"

"I don't take steroids. It's over, Lupin."

"You must have been taking something. You were puny before. Now you look better than a champion bodybuilder," the master thief explained with a toothy smile. "Oh, I get it now. That Leonard guy was experimenting on you. That's why you're so big and strong." _"I got a blood transfusion from this guy, therefore I'm a whole lot stronger and faster than I was too. But I wonder how he got those wings from earlier. I barely remember him flying into us, taking us by surprise. Anyway, I'll brake out of this prison in good time. Since those feds took Goemon's sword and Jigen's gun from them, it's all up to me. But for now, I'm going to talk Warren into letting me know what's going on."_

"You're not exactly puny yourself. In fact, you're a little bigger and more muscular than the pictures I've seen of you. Have you been breaking into gyms and stealing their steroids for yourself, hmm?" Warren said with a knowing look.

"Ha ha ha! That's a good one, Warren. You oughtta be a comedian. By the way, where is Zenigata? He normally shows up whenever I'm on a heist. He hasn't shown up in America for a while now. He was there when I robbed that bank in England, so where is he now?"

"Haven't you heard? He got Jack Dawson's building blown up due to his arrogance. The explosion caused so much damage that he's been banned from America," Warren replied.

"Ooh! That explains a lot. I wondered why I haven't seen him recently." Then he regarded Warren shrewdly. "I suppose you're gonna be the one to chase after me while I'm working in the States."

"That would be the case if you were still out and about. But as it is, you're going to be in jail for a long time. I'm a lot smarter than Zenigata," Warren answered with a sense of pride that the master thief didn't fail to notice.

"I'll get out of here sooner or later."

"Dream on. You're going to pay for what happened to Leonard Sampson," Warren said stoically.

"I didn't kill that guy, it was those Shadowlaw agents!" Lupin protested vigilantly, closing his eyes and opening his mouth wide with his teeth out. "Heck, he saved my life! I'm not a bad guy! For your information, I've already given money to his sister who was the only living relative he had!"

"He'd still be alive if it wasn't for you. Anyway, I'll leave you to your fate," Warren said, walking away from him.

"This isn't over, old... I mean young man!" Lupin called out from his cell.

XXX

Later that night at around 11:00 pm, Lupin and the guys waited for the guards to make their rounds. As soon as the coast was clear, they made their escape.

"You know what you're doing, Lupin?" Jigen asked as Lupin worked the bars.

"Of course, I know what I'm doing! I'm well aware of how sensitive these bars are. Not only am I stronger, I'm still the best thief in the world." With a great deal of care, Lupin grabbed the bars of their cell, quietly shaking them just so without breaking them. Then he slid the cell doors to his left, opening them. "All right, guys. Let's go."

At their leader's command, Jigen and Goemon slipped through the open bar door. As soon as they had gone through, Lupin slipped himself through, moving the bars back to where they were supposed to be gently.

"How did you do that, Lupin?" Goemon, the samurai asked.

"I know this place intimately, and since my strength, dexterity and awareness are so much greater, I was able to open these cell doors without tripping an alarm."

"Those roids you took really helped you out, Lupin," Jigen commented.

"That's true. I've never felt better in my life," the master thief answered with a toothy smile.

"I'll feel a whole lot better when my sword is back in my hands," the samurai interjected with a sense of concern. "It must be around here somewhere."

"I need to get my gun back too," Jigen said as they walked through the hallway.

"We'll find your stuff. I know what I'm doing. Stay in the shadows." Lupin had stolen many if not all the schematics of every prison on the planet on the off chance he might have ended up imprisoned in any of these places. A seemingly invisible, infrared light passed through, while he and his compatriots stayed in a dark corner.

"All right, guys. Let's go." Lupin moved with the grace and speed of a cat with his friends following in suit.

"Where are we going?" Jigen asked impatiently.

"To the office of the warden."

"The warden?"

"Shhh. Keep it down. Who else would know where all of our stuff is? Besides, she's kind of cute for a middle aged woman. She has a huge rack and nice round ass." Lupin drooled a little bit with his mouth opened at the thought of putting the warden in a compromising position.

"All right," Goemon said with a sense of authority. "We don't have time for games, Lupin. As soon as we find out where our weapons are, we leave right away."

"Sure, sure. No problem."

In a few moments, Lupin and his friends sneaked through the prison without anybody knowing they were there until they finally neared the warden's office. Then Lupin put his ear to the door. "Good, she's still in there. Follow me in, boys."

Before she knew what had happened, the warden was surrounded and held fast with Goemon and Jigen on either side of her. "What the..."

"Shh. Listen, Warden Ladell. We're breaking out, but before we leave we need to get our stuff back. So where are the sword you took from Goemon and the gun you took from Jigen. You don't have to worry about my gun so much. This gun here will do." Lupin brandished the gun the warden normally had hidden on her person, causing the warden to look down in vain where her gun normally was.

"Gasp! How did you do that?"

"I'm the best thief in the world, babe. But you oughtta be more careful where you place your weapons. If you had a bad accident you might have shot off your assets. Hmm. The gun's still warm too." Lupin sniffed the gun happily. Then he ogled the woman's bosom. His huge toothy smile broadened, making her more than a little nervous. "Anyway, where is my friends' stuff?" Lupin's face got closer to the rather attractive woman who was top heavy and nicely built. She had a cute face, doleful eyes, and shoulder length, brown hair. She also was wearing a buttoned down dress shirt and a light brown skirt that flattered her figure.

"I'll never tell you anything. You guys should make it easy on yourselves and just go back to your cells," the woman breathed nervously as she regarded Lupin's countenance.

"I think I can change your mind. Hold her arms up boys."

"What are you planning on doing, Lupin?" Jigen asked suspiciously as he and Goemon complied with his orders.

"Oh, just this." The master thief reached over to the woman's wide open underarms and sides and started poking. "Tickle! Tickle! Tickle!"

"Ha ha ha ha! Stop!"

"You going to tell me what I want to know, hmm?" Lupin kept the pressure on, touching here and there.

"I wo... Ha ha ha!"

"Aah, let's try this spot over here."

"Not that spot! Oh, you..." The tickled woman tried not to laugh, keeping her mouth shut, but despite her best efforts she couldn't keep a smile from forming on her face. Then as her vulnerable areas were gently and carefully touched, her mouth burst wide open. "Hehehehehehehe!" She did everything she could do to wriggle out of her captors' grasp, but she was held too tightly.

"I can do this all day," Lupin said with a triumphant smirk as his hands did their work.

"We don't have time for this, Lupin," Jigen said in disgust. "We should leave right now."

"Just give me a few more minutes." Lupin was actually enjoying the sight of the lady giggling and laughing, looking as if she was going to come out of the tight shirt she was wearing. As it was, a button on her blouse had already popped open, giving Lupin a peak into her bare cleavage. Then Lupin turned to his captive with a wry smile. "You better start talking, babe."

"Hehehehe! All right!" she gasped in surrender, her breasts heaving with every breath. "Anything to get you to stop."

"Now where is our stuff? Or should I find other areas of your ticklish body?"

"No, please! Gasp! Huff! Your stuff's in the safe over there, but I don't have the key right now."

"You think that safe is going to stop me?" Lupin said with a laugh. Walking over to the safe, he quickly figured out the combination and opened the door. "Here's all our stuff, fellas." Lupin passed his friend's weapons to them.

"You got what you wanted. Now get out of here!" the rankled woman demanded.

Lupin turned towards the woman, staring at her bosom and looking her up and down with a huge toothy smile on his face. "We'll leave but first..." Lupin reached over to the woman and nerve pinched her, knocking her out. "All right, fellas. Let's get out of here."

On their way out, Lupin turned around and gave the unconsciousness woman another look. Then he reached towards the helpless woman's chest.

"Come on, Lupin!" Jigen demanded as he took hold of his friend and dragged him off.

XXX

The next morning, Warren Worthington showed up dressed in a suit and tie at the prison in which Lupin and his gang were incarcerated in order to have their equipment confiscated and examined. "Who are you, Silverman?" a prison guard demanded, stopping him with a wave of his hand. Then Warren showed him his credentials.

"I'm Federal Agent Worthington. Where's the equipment of Lupin and his gang? Some eggheads in the government can't wait to examine the samurai guy's sword."

"Oh, about that," the guard paused. "Their stuff is gone."

"What?!" the agent exclaimed in shock.

"It's not just that. Lupin and his gang are long gone. "Nobody knows where they are."

"How did he escape?"

"He got out of his cell somehow, but no one knows how. We found the warden on the ground of her office unconscious," the guard explained.

Then a man in a nice suit and tie showed up, showing his high level credentials. "You're Warren Worthington, right?"

"Yes."

"This way, please."

Warren followed the well dressed man into the warden's office where several law enforcement officers were going over the room, looking for fingerprints and other evidence. "What happened here?"

"Lupin obviously knocked her out and left her as you see her." Then I noticed the warden sitting at her desk with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Are you all right, Warden?"

The warden looked up at Warren, embarrassed over what had happened. "I'm fine. I hate how people keep asking me that!"

"Sorry. How did Lupin and his friends escape? Maybe something happened that will give me a clue that will help me find out where their next crime will be."

"Here's the only clue he left," the warden explained dourly. She then reached for something in her desk drawer and handed it to him. "Lupin left this note for you in the safe."

[Hey, young man! I told you I'd escape out of jail and I did! My friends and I have some heists to do in Europe, so I'll say hi to Zenigata for ya. But don't worry. I'll be back in the U.S. in no time. See ya later.]

"LUPIN!" Worthington screamed out loud to no one in particular as he raised his fist in the air.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Thanks for all of your support and reviews!


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